Penn's Small Problem
by Dalek Prime
Summary: Penn didn't know which was worse: Being three inches tall or being forced to live with Sashi.
1. My Little Roommate

**A/N: I don't own Penn Zero: Part-Time Hero or any else mentioned**

* * *

Chapter one: My Little Roommate

Penn let out a sigh of accomplishment as he looked at the tribe of imps sing joyous songs of victory. Earlier today, the part-time hero and his friends had successfully stopped Rippen and Larry from burning the imps entire village to the ground and enslaving them all, now they prepared to return to their home dimension.

""It kinda sucks that we gotta leave" Boone mentioned as he took another bite of a fried grub "these deep fried grubs are amazing!"

"Uh-huh…" was Penn could say to that "Alright Phyllis, bring us home"

With that, a bright flash of light engulfed him, sending them back to their own world; however as they traveled Penn felt a tingling sensation throughout his body. At first he thought nothing of it, that is until the tingling soon became a surge of electric pain that ran throughout every inch of his body like wildfire. After several seconds of torture, the pain suddenly subsided and he was once more back in the theater.

"Geez that was horrible! Did anyone else feel that?" he asked his friends before looking over to Phyllis "What happened Phy-"

The teen froze mid-sentence as he suddenly saw what was once a familiar place to him now had completely and totally took him off-guard. The theater seats now towered him like great mountains, making it impossible for Penn to see Phyllis. He then looked up to see his now gigantic friends looking down at him in total horror.

"Holy crap you're all giants!" the now tiny Penn cried out in shock "What has science done?!"

"Penn we're not giants, you're still imp-sized!" Sashi explained, still shocked by what she was seeing before her

"Dude your like a toy solider" Boone said as he picked up his friend from the ground

"How did this even happen?" Penn demanded "How in the world am I still small?!"

Sashi pointed over to Phyllis, where she was currently attempting to put out a fire that had was currently spewing out from the machine.

"Machine have malfunction during return trip, leave Penn tiny" the elderly woman said as she sprayed out the flames with a fire extinguisher "Can still send you two on other missions though"

"But you can fix it right?" Boone asked

"Yes—give or take few days" Phyllis replied "until then, Penn is stuck looking like little toy"

Hearing those words cut deep into Penn more then anything else had been hit by any mission, there was no way he could go about his life at three inches tall; let alone go home and let his aunt and uncle see him like this.

"Check it out Sashi; Penn Zero: Part-Time action figure" Boone suddenly spoke up before pretending to fly him around in mid-air "Phew! Phew! Phew! Take that Rippen—oh no here comes a giant fist!"

"Boone stop!" Sashi ordered as she stopped him from hitting Penn "This is serious! We need to keep Penn safe until Phyllis can restore him to his original height"

"I understand…" the heavy-set teen answered "And Here Comes A Giant Fist!"

In under a split second, Sashi grabbed Boone by the wrist and after giving it a quick yet still powerful squeeze, forced him to let go of the now small ginger and let him fall into her free hand. Even under the gloves she wore, Penn could still feel how surprisingly soft her skin was; despite all the punching and ripping she did to her enemies with them.

"Guys I can't go home looking like this" He told him "If my aunt and uncle see this they'll never left me out of the house and force me to live in a gerbil cage for the rest of my life!"

"Not a gerbil cage!" Boone cried out in fear "Don't worry buddy, you can live with me until your huge again"

"Have you seen your room Boone?" Sashi cut in "Penn wouldn't last an hour at his size—let alone at his regular size in that place!"

"Yeah good point" the portly boy agreed "I've been putting off project: clean up for over a year now"

"Then it's decided, Penn will stay with me" the part-time sidekick said

Penn's whole body went rigid with fright upon hearing that. The part-time hero now not only had to contend with being a new height, but also now being forced to live with his one female friend which given his current situation would more then likely lead to some rather awkward situation.

"Wait, don't I get a say in all this?" Penn argued

"Sorry dude, but you must be this high to have a vote" Boone joked "besides, it's not like you have any better choices"

Penn hated to admit it, but Boone had a point; at this point he was the safest with Sashi. With that, the Asian teen placed her friend in one of her pockets headed off home, all the while Penn tried to keep composer and ready himself for living with his violent friend.

* * *

And so, plan was put into action to keep Penn's aunt and uncle from getting suspicious about his disappearance. Boone called ahead to them and made up a story of upcoming science fair and needed Penn's help for giant project and needed him around clock in order to get it finished. Thankfully they bought it, but that was just one problem solved for the now fun-sized hero.

When he was finally taken out of Sashi's pocket and gently placed on a nearby desk before his giant guardian went over to her closet, giving the ginger-haired teen to get an eyeful of the girl's room. Their were posters of Bruce Lee and metal bands like Slipknot and Metallica her walls, as well as a punching bag that hung in the corner of the room next to the closet. On the desk he was now standing on, there where a few notebooks from school and TV sitting there, as well as a drawer that sat next to the desk.

Currently Sashi was digging around in her closet for something. After letting out a 'ah-ha!' she pulled out a large pink fifties styled dollhouse, making Penn start to crack up at the sight of it.

"What's so funny?" she inquired sharply

"Y-You have a-actuality have dollhouse!" he said in between his laughter "I never once thought you have something like that in a million years!"

"Well yuck it up tiny, because this is were your staying!" she told him as she roughly placed the dollhouse on the desk

Instead of trying to make a witty retort or laugh off his new living space, Penn just let out a defeated sigh and sat down at the edge of the desk and looked away from his friend.

"Penn, what's wrong?" Sashi asked as she kneeled down to face him

"What's wrong? Everything!" her friend snapped as he jumped to his feet "How am I supposed to live like this?! I can't go home! I can't eat regular sized food I can't even use the bathroom without fearing that'll fall in and drown in the toilet!"

"Penn I know your upset, but Phyllis will fix the machine and you'll—"Sashi attempted to reassure him

"But what if she doesn't?!" the part-time hero shot back in anger "What if I'm stuck like this for the rest of my life?!"

The Asian teen then rose to her feet and glared down at the miniature boy like an angry god, nearly making Penn go white with fear.

"That's Enough!" She commanded "Your Penn Zero and you've fought villains, monsters and aliens without any fear and you're not going to let something like this break you!"

"But—"

"But Nothing!" she furthered, slamming her fist down on the desk, making him fall on his back from the vibrations "So what if Phyllis may not be able to fix; your height doesn't define who you are, its what you do with this situation that does. So, are you gonna keep crying about this or are you gonna be the hero I know you are?!"

Just as she finished her rather aggressive pep talks, the door to her room suddenly open to allow her farther to step into her bedroom. Sashi quickly spun around to both face him and block his view of Penn, who keep absolutely silent and still the whole time.

"Sashi, who are you talking to?" her farther inquired

"Uh—just my friend Penn—over the phone that is!" she quickly explained

"But your phone is on your bed" he pointed out, pointing to her cellphone as he did

"Yes, yes it is" the part-time side-kick acknowledged "could you leave now dad, I'm trying to get ready for bed"

Her farther gave her a confused nod before exiting the girl's room, allowing the two friends to continue their conversation.

"Thanks for the pep-talk Sash…even if it was a tad terrifying" he told her with a smile "I'm just scared y'a know. This isn't like in a mission where if we lose we get zapped back, this could be a permanent thing"

"I know Penn" she replied softly with a smile of her own "But we'll get through this—together"

"Together" her friend repeated

As the red-headed teen looked up at his much larger friend, he couldn't help but feel a sudden warmness spread throughout his body. Before it could get anymore awkward, Penn thought it would be best to call it a night.

"I'm feeling pretty tired, I guess I'll see you in the morning then" he said before quickly making his way into the dollhouse before Sashi could answer him

After finding his way to the bedroom, the part time hero shut the blinds tight in order to prevent himself of seeing his giant friend as she removed her cloths for the night. He then laid down on the bed and looked up at the ceiling, wondering what to do about not only his new height, but also living with Sashi without making it weirder then it already was.


	2. All The Small Things

Chapter Two: All The Small Things

As Penn awoke, for a split second he thought that everything that transpired the previous day was only a dream and that he would be in his room with his aunt and uncle dressing up that stupid rodent it some crazy costume and he would be back to beating Rippin senseless in his normal size. Sadly though, when he looked around the bedroom in the dollhouse he was reminded of his current situation and size. As he got up from his tiny bed, he heard the sound of leather being hit repeatedly as well as fierce grunts that could only come from one girl he knew all to well.

He looked out his window to see Sashi swinging away at the punching bag in the darkness of her bedroom, with only the light of the slowly rising sun to illuminate the room. As the now shrunken hero watched his friend punch and kick the leather bag, he took notice of her new attire which was a sports black bra and a pair of black sweatpants that showed off well-toned muscles and abs that she usually kept hidden under her layers of cloths; he also noticed that she wasn't her specs either during her training session and that her hair was tied into one pony tail rather her distinct two pigtails.

Sashi moves were fierce but precise strikes that sent the punching bag flying backwards only to swing forward into her fists over and over again. While the Asian teen's attacks were deadly, Penn couldn't help but note that there was a sort of gracefulness to her movements; she was almost hypotonic to watch as she battered the punching bag.

After a minute or two more of hitting the leather bag, the part-time sidekick stopped her one-sided sparring match and let out an accomplished sigh, happy with her handiwork. Out of the corner of her eye, she noticed Penn looking back at her from the dollhouse.

"So, did you enjoy the show?" she teased with a smirk as she made her way up to the dollhouse

"What?—oh! Yeah!—I mean no!—I mean um…" Penn was stumbling through his words until he could make a proper sentence "Uh-you're up pretty early. I mean you do know its Saturday right?"

"I know, but I train everyday at the crack of dawn—whether it be weekdays or weekends" Sashi informed him "It keeps me sharp and ready for anything"

As she spoke, the redheaded teen kept his eyes looking downward, due to the fact whenever he looked up his line of sight met up with his friend's chest; which from where he was standing was blocking her face.

"So why are you up this early?" the sidekick inquired

"I'm kinda used to uncle Chuck waking me up this early for breakfast" the part-time hero answered "that and your little sparring match work me up"

"Sorry about that" Sashi apologized before thinking of something "Hey, you wanna join me?"

"Uh, sure, but I don't think I'll that much of a work-out partner" the ginger admitted

"Its fine, you can just keep me company while I train" Sashi said as she held out her hand

Penn then climbed onto her hand, allowing his friend to place him on her shoulder. The violent teen then got down on her hands and feet and began to do push-ups. While the up and down motion may not have bothered Sashi herself, to Penn on the other hand it was like being on a carnival ride. He was glad that he didn't eat anything before doing this or things may have taken a turn for the gross, but he still felt dizzy during the whole event none the less. He clung unto the shoulder strap of Sashi's sports bra with on hand and steadied himself by propping his hand up against her ear.

"Are you ok, Penn?" she asked

"Yep, just peachy" he lied as he fought the urge to pass out from all the blood rushing to his head

Just then, Sashi put right arm behind her back and continued to do her push-ups with only her left arm, which amazed the part-time hero.

"Holy crap Sash, I had no idea you could do that!" he said

"There's a lot you don't know about me" she replied as she continued her one-handed routine

"Yeah, because you keep everything to yourself" Penn retorted casually

The moment he had said that, Sashi came to sudden stop, nearly making Penn go flying off her shoulder had he not grabbed onto the bra strap. The part-time sidekick then plucked him off of her person and brought him only inches to her now glowering face as she stood straight up. What Penn had said wasn't meant to be taken as an insult, but the way she was now looking at her, his friend had clearly taken it that way. So whether he liked it or not Penn was about to get into an argument.

"What the hell's that supposed mean?" she demanded

"Jesus, calm down will you?" Penn answered sharply "All I said was that you keep everything to yourself! And you know what? It's true!"

"Any information I give out is on a—"she attempted to say

"Yeah I know 'a need to know basis'" Penn cut in "But we're friends Sashi, your supposed to trust me with this kind of stuff, y'a know? hell I don't when your birthday is or what shows you like or even what your favorite food is"

"And for how long will we be friends Penn?" she questioned harshly "What's going to happen when you and Boone leave me behind and I'm left alone?"

Penn was shocked when she said; did she really think so little of him and their friendship?

"Why would you even think that Sashi?" Penn asked

"Because that's what always happens!" she snapped back, holding back tears as she did "Ever since I was little girl I've been alone, no one would come ten feet near me! They all thought I was freak who would turn on them in a heartbeat! So why should I think differently that you won't do the same in the future?!"

At first, Sashi assumed that her now shrunken friend would make some witty remark about how she was overreacting and try to laugh it off, however much to her surprise the redhead instead gave her a comforting look as he tried his best to give her a gentle hug across her face—which he quickly retracted after quickly realizing how much of a dumb idea that was.

"You should've it figured out by now, but I—I mean me and Boone wouldn't ditch you" he assured her "We've seen you at your worst more then once and we still stick by you. Because that's what friends do Sashi and I swear I will never leave your side as long as I live"

Normally Sashi would be skeptical of those kinds of words, but way Penn had said them made feel a certain warm comfort. She gently placed him back on the table and smiled at him, to which he returned with one of his own.

"Thanks Penn" she told him

"Anytime Sash" he replied

"I'll tell you anything you want to know about me—with certain restrictions" the Asian teen informed him "But first I need to take a shower. All this training and soul-bearing worked up a good sweat"

"Yeah I didn't wanna say anything since we were having our heart-to-heart" the tiny hero responded "I don't if its because of my size or that I was right above your armpit, but you seriously reek!"

Instead giving him another glare, Sashi instead let out a small giggle from her lips.

"Well I'm off to hit the showers" she said "You wanna join me?"

There was a pause on Penn's end as his face read a mixture of confusion and shock. Was she seriously asking if he wanted to bathe with her? Just then, Sashi let out a laugh, clearly showing that she was joking (which Penn thought she was incapable of doing at all) the part-time hero made a hearty laugh in response to show he had gotten the joke before she left the room. While Penn laughed on the outside, inside however he was saddened by it.

" _Wait why am I upset by that?"_ he asked himself in his mind " _We're just friends. It's not like I'm…aw crap"_

It something he had been inwardly dealing with for awhile now even before he was shrunken down, but due to the missions and his personal life, Penn had managed to keep those thoughts buried down and brush them off, however now that he was closer to Sashi then he had even been before, it was becoming increasingly clear to him.

"I have a crush on Sash…" he said to himself aloud "…shit"


	3. The Inside Story

Chapter Three: The Inside Story

Later that night, Penn and Sashi spent their time telling each other about themselves. Normally, this was something most friends would do, but neither of the teens where anywhere normal by any means. Sashi was currently sitting on her bed with her shrunken friend sitting on her kneecap as she had ate a small plate of Sushi her mother had made for her. She broke off a small piece of one summer roll and gave to Penn to eat, granted only a handful, but enough to sustain him.

They talked for what seemed like forever, they talked about their favorite movies, books and music and much to their mutual surprise, they had a lot in common. It felt strange to the part-time sidekick to open up the way she was, but it felt almost natural talking to the tiny ginger.

"So then I said 'oatmeal, are you crazy?'" the boy said, making them both laugh

"I bet you'll never look at oatmeal the same way again" Sashi replied in-between her laughter

"I can't even look at a box of the stuff" the tiny hero furthered "So what about Sash, you got any stories involving food items?"

"Nothing that can top that" the violent teen said

Despite how well the conversation was going, Penn was having a mental battle with himself about whether or not to tell his giant friend how he was starting to feel about her. The pint-sized part-time hero had faced monsters, aliens and his evil art teacher, but the idea of telling his friend his feelings toward her scared him beyond all reason. Would she accept his confession with open arms? Or would she spur his advances? Sashi was so unpredictable when came to things such as emotions that she could either kiss him or crush if he said the wrong thing.

"Something on your mind PZ?" his friend inquired, derailing his train of thought as she did

"Huh?—oh! It's nothing!" Penn lied "Just uh, thinking about how good this summer roll is!"

Sashi raised an eyebrow in suspicion, but said nothing on the matter. She knew he was hiding something from her, but instead decided wanted to wait for him to tell her about it. Suddenly there was knock on the girl's bedroom, making the two teen's jump in surprise.

"Oh Sashi!" her mother's voice said from the other end of the door "I'm respecting your privacy by knocking, but asserting my authority as your mother by coming in anyway"

Sashi grabbed Penn off of her knee and tried desperately to find a place to hide her friend quickly before her mother saw him, with only seconds before she entered, the part-time sidekick made a decision that Penn was not going to like.

"Do you trust me?" she asked in a hurried voice

"Yeah, but what are you—"the ginger tried to say

Penn let out a yelp in surprise as Sashi opened her mouth and popped him into it before slamming her jaws shut just as her mother entered the room. There were no words to describe the amount of horror and disgust he was feeling right now as he carefully balanced himself on his hands and knees on her tongue, trying to stay as quite as humanly possible despite wanting to scream at the top of his lungs at Sashi's choice of a hiding place as her saliva dripped down onto him like a bucket of slime.

"Sashi, I need you to take out the trash" her mother informed her

The violent teen gave a nod in understanding as a response.

"Young lady I want to a 'yes ma'am' from you and I'm not leaving this room until you" her mother ordered "So either swallow that sushi or I'm going to stand here all night"

" _Please don't swallow! Please don't swallow! Please don't swallow!_ " Penn mentally begged

Sashi was sweating bullets at this point, she knew she would doom her friend if she swallowed him down, but her mother would keep her promise and stay there while Penn was trapped in her mouth, but if she spit him up right in front of her, her mother would more then likely freak out and kill the boy out of fear. So with a heavy heart, she turned her head upwards and let Penn tumble down her throat. Sashi could feel her friend sliding down her throat and toward her stomach, making her feel ill over what she had just done.

"Yes ma'am" she breathed out

"Good answer" her mother replied before looking her over "you look a little green sweetie, do you feel alright"

"It was something I ate" Sashi answered slowly as she walked past her to do her chore

Meanwhile inside of the part-time sidekick, Penn continued his path down Sashi's esophagus and toward her stomach. He made desperate attempt to try and climb back up her throat, but there was nothing for him to hang onto as he went further down into her as her inner muscles forced him downward. Finally he was dropped down into her belly where he thankfully landed on one of pieces of sushi she had eaten instead of falling face first into the stomach acids. Penn was in full-on panic mode, he was almost certain he was going to die inside of the girl he held affection toward and no one would know he was gone except the both of them.

"I wanted to get inside of Sashi, but this was not what I had in mind" he said to himself, trying to lighten up his situation

Just then, his cell phone began to ring. He looked to see that it was none other then the girl he was currently inside of.

"Who knew I could get great reception inside of Sashi of all places" Penn commented before answering the phone.

"I'm so sorry Penn!" Sashi apologized

"No Sashi 'sorry' is when you spill soda on a fancy rug or accidentally tell a kid that there's no such thing as Santa" the red-head scolded through the phone "This is as far away from a sorry as you can possibly be! This is an 'Oh my god I screwed up big time' kind of thing!"

"I panicked, I didn't know what to do!" she defended

"How about hiding me somewhere other then your mouth for starters?" he replied sharply

"Alright just save it and let's just focus on getting you out of me" the part-time sidekick reasoned

"Well there is an exit outta here, but I really don't wanna take it" Penn said

"I would make myself throw up, but I don't have a gag reflex. So that idea's out the window" Sashi mentioned

"Good thing to, because that's also a really gross escape plan" her devoured friend pointed out

It was then that Sashi glanced over to one of her shoes and looked at the laces as a new idea formed in her mind. She then quickly pulled the laces out of her shoe before consuming one end of it, hoping they would be long enough for what she was about to do

"Sashi, whatever you're doing out there you better do it fast, because my ride's melting!" Penn insisted as the sushi he was standing on began to melt away from the stomach acids

As his edible lifeboat began to sink into the acid, a shoe lace entered Sashi's stomach. Penn reach out and took hold of his life-line and gave a quick tug on the lace to tell his friend that he had it. Once the violent girl knew that he had her friend, she began to pull the lace out of her body until she finally managed to pull the part-time hero out of her body. As Penn hung unto the shoe lace, he gave Sashi a fierce glower while she could only at him with embarrassment.

"We don't talk about this. Ever" he told her

"Agreed" as all Sashi could say as she set him down on the table

Penn was drenched in her salvia and reeked of the food that was still digesting within his friend. He had no other cloths to change into nor any idea how he was going to wash away Sashi's spit off of his person. The part-time side-kick silently went over to her closet once more and began to rummage through it for something. She then returned with a doll-sized pair of swim trunks and towel.

"Get changed, then I'll get you a shower" she informed him

While Penn had some misgivings about the girl he had a crush on helping him take a bath, his next to get out of his saliva soaked outfit override his train of thought. After going inside the dollhouse to change into his swim trunks he went back outside to allow Sashi to place him into her pocket before being taken to the bathroom. Once there, she took him out and turned on the sink. Keeping him in the palm of her hand, she placed the red head under the running water to allow him to wash away the filth and slime that clung to him during his short stay inside of her.

By the look in her eye Penn knew that Sashi was mentally beating herself up over the whole ordeal and while he was still a bit upset himself, he didn't want the object of his secret affection to feel awful over this; she was only trying to protect him like she always had and he couldn't fault her for that. So he decided to brighten her sprits back up the only way he knew how: by being himself.

"So, how did I taste?" he asked

"What?" Sashi responded, clearly taken aback by the question

"Come on Sash, you swallowed me like a pelican. I must have tasted real good for you do something like that" he continued with a smirk on his face

Upon seeing his smirk, Sashi caught unto what he was up to at and played along.

"You kind of tasted like fish" she admitted

"Really? And here I thought I'd taste like chicken" Penn replied

The two shared a laugh at that, lightening the tension that was between them only moments ago. After a few more minutes of giving Penn his shower, Sashi cut the off the water and gave him the doll-sized towel to dry himself off before taking him back to her room.

"Well that takes cares of the smell" the part-time hero mentioned as he climbed off her hand and onto the table "But what am I supposed to do about my cloths?"

"I may have an answer to that" his larger friend offered

Sashi opened up one of the drawers of the able and took out an action figure Captain Levi from the anime Attack on Titan. She then began to remove the figures the clothing before handing them to Penn for him to try on. He went into the dollhouse and threw on the Titan-slaying uniform and stepped out to allow the violent girl to see his new outfit.

"This feels great!" he announced to her "Sashi, you're a genius!"

She let out another laugh at the compliment as she blushed, making her shrunken friend do the same. Maybe some day he would find the courage to tell her and find out first-hand if she would accept him or shun him, but tonight was not that time, now was a time for friendship.


	4. Attack on Teddy

Chapter Four: Attack on Teddy

"Seriously Sash, why do I have to school?" Penn asked as he stuck out his head from her pocket "You can just lie and say I have the measles or something?"

It was the start of a new school week and rather then be left alone at home, his friend and current caregiver insisted that he come with her for the duration of the week, even though he would be relegated to just staying in her pocket during school hours.

"You still need to learn PZ—even if you are three inches tall" the part-time sidekick informed him

"It's because you don't trust me alone in your bedroom, isn't it?"

"Yep"

As they walked up the high school, Boone walk raced up alongside the part-time sidekick and the shrunken boy. By the looks of the amount of books he was trying to carry in his hands, it appeared that he had misplaced his backpack.

"S'up Sashi!" he greeted as he kept a textbook from slipping out of his grasp "where's mini-Penn?"

"Down here Boone" his friend's voice came from the girl's pocket "And don't call me that!"

"What happened to your backpack?" Sashi questioned

"Left it in my mom's car" he repiled "But it's cool though, I still got my books"

Sashi proceeded to take her tiny friend out of her pocket to hold out to the part-time Wiseman to see. They huddled around the small hero in order to keep him hidden from the other students that passed by them.

"Nice duds, dude. Where'd you get them?" Boone asked as he noticed Penn's new attire

"I—uh—decided I needed a new look, so Sashi hooked me up with this sweet new outfit" the tiny ginger lied, not wanting to tell him the real story behind his new cloths "Yeah—let's go with that!"

"Yes lets!" Sashi quickly agreed with a small nervous laugh

Just then, one student running past the two part-time heroes bumped into Boone-; who stumbled into Sashi and dropped his books in the process. The part-time sidekick also dropped her shrunken friend in the ground. After Boone and Sashi corrected themselves—or better put Sashi pushing her heavy-set friend off of her—they quickly dropped to their hands and knees to find their friend, hoping her survived the fall and the avalanche of books.

"Oh God! I killed Penn!" the part-time Wiseman cried out "Stupid textbooks! You never taught me anything anyway—especially you, floating book!"

Confused by what her friend had just said; Sashi looked over to see one of the school books seemingly floating in mid-air. She reached out and picked it up to find Penn standing before them, unharmed by either the fall or the book that had been dropped on him.

"Penn! Your ok!" she gasped in relief as she picked him up off of the ground "But how?"

"I don't know. When that book fell on me, I just reached up and hoped it would stop it" Penn tried to explain "It didn't feel as heavy as I thought it would be"

"Maybe when your shrank, you managed to keep the strength you had at your normal size" Sashi surmised

"Dude, you're like Ant-Man!" Boone commented "'cept you can't talk to ants or have a cool costume or have an awesome movie"

"Well with all the strange things I've seen and done, I'm willing to believe that logic" the redhead acknowledged

As Sashi placed her friend back into her pocket, she noticed the boy she held affection toward walking up to her. while Penn was now back inside her pocket, he managed to poke his head out to see Sashi make a warm smile like she had when she had met Blaze for the first time—only this smile was for Teddy. This of course upset Penn, but he stayed silent for the moment.

"Hi Teddy" she greeted in out of character sweet voice

The teen she had greeted only returned her good natured hello with a fierce scowl.

"Don't talk to me you freak!" he snapped at her before walking past her

The saddened look on the young girl's face upon hearing those words made the part-time hero's blood boil. True, Sashi had a rather unique way of showing her affection toward people, but that hardly merited the response she got from Teddy-at least in Penn's book anyway.

"Are you ok Sash?" Boone asked with concern

"Yeah…I'm fine" she forced herself to say

"Really? Because you look like you just got your heart ripped out of your chest by Teddy" the heavy-set teen causally continued, clearly unaware that he was making the girl feel worse "I mean you did hit him a lot while stalking him in the halls and—"

"Stop. Talking" the Asian teen gritted through her teeth as she glared daggers at him

Again Penn remained silent, only now he kept his line of sight locked on the teenager who just insulted his friend and his crush. Now Penn was by no means a violent person by nature, sure he fought back against the focuses of evil, but he always tried to take a more civil approach before letting his fists fly. However, upon seeing the mental damage Teddy had done to Sashi made him forgo his usually calm demeanor and allow for a more aggressive negotiation to be made between him and Teddy.

In other words: Penn was going to kick his ass.

* * *

Later during their first period class, Penn sat in Sashi's pocket as he patiently waited for his moment to strike. He knew that he was about to do was the very antithesis of what a hero should do in these situations, but the image of his friend holding back her tears kept playing in his head like a record stuck on repeat and it only fueled his anger even more.

Soon enough, his opportunity came when he heard Teddy's voice asking to be excused to use the restroom. As he passed by Sashi, the tiny hero leapt out of the girl's pocket and latched himself onto Teddy's pants leg. He clung on to his target's leg until they reached the restroom. Penn did a quick double-take around the room to make sure there were no witnesses around before going to work.

With all his strength, he yanked Teddy backwards, making his giant target tumble over onto his back. While he was down, the part-time hero then ran up his leg before reaching Teddy's belly which he delivered a strong punch to it, making the teen roll over in pain. Teddy tried to swat away whatever was attacking, but Penn caught his on coming hand and flipped the punk into the air and proceeded to slam him multiple times against the restroom floor which ended in the ginger tossing him against one of stalls, sending him right through the door in the process.

As he moaned in pain, Teddy attempted to rise back to his feet, only to be knocked backwards once more, however instead of hitting the ground, his head fell directly into a feces filled toilet. Penn let out a laugh at his handiwork before running up Teddy's back and leaping onto the handle to flush the toilet, giving his target a rather disgusting swirily in doing so.

Penn took a moment to look at Teddy as he slowly pulled his head out of the toilet with an expression that was a mixture of horror and disgust on his face, taking in the teen's pain with great pride.

"You know my conscious usually gets in the way of these things" he mused to himself "But not today!"

As Teddy rushed out of the stall and out of the restroom entirely, he had no idea that his attacker had once again latched himself on to his pants leg once more in order to hitch a ride back to class.

* * *

"Ghost!" Teddy shouted as he bolted into his classroom in a panic "There's a ghost in the restroom!"

The occupants of the classroom—both students and teacher alike—collectively turned at looked at the filth-covered teen with a mix of confusion and amusement on their faces. There was a brief pause before the whole classroom erupted with the sound of laughter at Teddy's expense. However, while everyone else was having a ball at the sight of the frighten teen, Sashi on the other hand grew suspicious by the sudden and random attack on her now former crush. It made her wonder if a certain shrunken friend of hers had taken it upon himself to exact some rather uncharacteristic like revenge on her behalf.

Going on her hunch, she looked down into her pocket to find Penn looking back up at her with sly smirk on his face.

"What did you do?" she questioned in a sharp whisper

"What I did?" he defended with a fake dramatic gasp "Why Sashi—how could you ever accuse me of doing such a thing to poor shit covered Teddy?"

She narrowed her eyes at him in a tight glare that seemed to piece into the very depth of Penn's soul. He knew that she had easily figured out that he was behind the assault on her former crush.

"I'm in trouble, aren't I?" he sheepishly asked as his bravado left him in a hurry

"Oh you have no idea" she told him harshly

* * *

Once first period had ended and Teddy had been sent to Larry's office for making a scene, Sashi made her way to the girl's restroom and locked herself in one of the stalls before roughly pulling her friend from her pocket to speak to him over what had just transpired.

"What the hell is wrong with you?!" she demanded as she glowered down at him

"I was mad, ok?" the shrunken answered "I hating seeing you upset, so I had a man to man conversation with Teddy on how he should treat a lady…with my fists"

"So you beat him up and got him covered in poo?" his friend continued

"Hey, that part was all on him" Penn defended

"Well regardless, I don't need you to fight my battles for me!" the side-kick informed him "And what made you think beating him up would solve anything? That's so unlike you"

"Like I said I didn't like seeing you upset" Penn said slowly "I mean you deserve so much better then that douchebag Sashi. I mean you're smart, brave, and a tad psychotic—but hat's a total turn on for some guys and to top it off, you're absolutely beautiful"

Sashi was taken aback by the words that were coming out Penn's mouth. With this and the beating he just gave Teddy, she was starting to piece together what Penn was up to.

"Uh Penn, what are you trying to say?" she asked hesitantly

Penn looked away from her gaze as he sighed; there was no hiding it now.

"I…I like you, Sashi" he finally said to her


	5. Between Us

Chapter Five: Between Us

After nearly a full minute of silence, Penn was beginning to think he had mentally broke Sashi. He began to inwardly curse himself for confessing his feelings to his friend. As he stood in the palm of her hand, he started to wonder if he he had jumped the gun and told her at the wrong time-after all-he had just just beaten her crush senseless as a way to protect her honor. He wanted desperately to take back what he just said and just just go back to being friends with Sashi rather then then just have this awkwardness between them.

"Sashi I'm so sorry!" he apologized in a panic "I didn't mean to-"

"How long have you felt this way, Penn?" she suddenly asked

Well there was no way to go about this now other then the truth. So Penn inhaled and exhaled a calming breath before speaking up.

"I dunno really, for awhile I guess..." he said sheepishly as he looked away from her gaze "I mean we were so busy with missions, school and my parents that I've so been focused on other things, but I guess my feelings for you where always there..."

As the shrunken hero spoke Sashi kept up a calm, yet hard to read expression on her face. Penn Zero had faced monsters, madmen and his art teacher without a hint of fear in his body, but as he continued to tell her how he felt, he felt his nerves wearing away by fear with every passing second.

"But ever since I started living with you, those feelings I have had only gotten stronger" he continued "I meant what said about you being all those things Sashi. I do think your all those things and so much more"

Silence was the only answer that Sashi gave the tiny teenager. Penn could only look down at her hand in shame after he said his peace, there was nothing he could do now but wait for his friend's rejection.

"I'm glad you told me that Penn..." she finally said "Because to be honest...I've been feeling that way about you to..."

Ok, that wasn't the response he was expecting.

"Come again?" Penn asked, clearly flabbergasted

Now it was Sashi's turn to be nervous.

"Well, for awhile I've been feeling differently about you more then just just a friend" she began in a shaken tone, feeling embarrassed by what she was doing "You called me brave, but sometimes your twice as brave as I am. You laugh at danger and you always sty positive even in worst situations. Your like a genius who pretends to be an idiot"

"Not the words I would've used, but thank you" the part-time hero replied before asking a question "So why didn't you tell me?"

"You know I'm not good with handling my emotions" the sidekick answered in a shamed tone "I was afraid that if I told you that I'd scare you off or make things awkward between us"

"That makes two of us" Penn agreed with a blush "So..do you really feel that way about me?"

"Yeah" his crush answered with a blush of her own "Do you...really feel that way about me?"

"Hell yeah Sash!" he nearly shouted in joy

Sashi let out a laugh at her friend's response. She was blushing as bright red as Penn's cheeks where right now, but oddly enough, she felt a sense of happiness for dropping her wall like she was doing. Penn was laughing like he had heard some some spectacular news-which was more or less the case at the moment-and was jumping up and down in the palm of the violent teen's hand as he did with his fist in the air. Just then, he suddenly came to a halt and faced the giant once more.

"So does this mean...?" he began curiously

"I'd like that" she finished with a warm grin

Once again he burst into a fit of victory laughing, making Sashi laugh along with him. It took Penn being shrunk and beating another guy whom until he never really had a problem with senseless, but he and Sashi where finally a couple.

* * *

Rather then tell Boone at lunch, they deiced to keep they're new relationship on a low profile until at least Penn was back to original size. The part-time hero stayed within Sashi's pocket the rest of the school day until the final bell rang. Pyhills informed the group that they had no missions for today and were off for the day; which was honestly for the better since Penn was still small. So the two new lovers opted to go straight home to better work out their new relationship.

Once they returned to Sashi's home, the two made a B-line to her room. Instead of setting the boy down next to her dollhouse like always, she had placed him on the bed where she climbed onto and sat down in front him. However, how she sat made Penn a tad apprehensive. The violent teen sat with her back against the headboard and the rest of hr body sprawled out on the bed, with her legs on either side of her tiny lover. The boy did his best not to look her skirt, but both his position and his hormones were making that very difficult at the moment.

"So uh...are we...a thing now? because I was way to caught up in my happy dance to be sure" the boy asked timidly

"Yeah, I guess we are..." Sashi replied, still taking in what had happened earlier today "we're...together"

"Together" Penn repeated just to clarify for himself "This feels kinda nice, y'a know? like this was meant to happen"

"Like something was missing was found" the part-time sidekick furthered before asking "Is this what...y'a know, 'this,' is supposed to fell like?"

"You mean love?" the tiny hero corrected with a smirk at her fear of using the 'L' word "Yes Sash, this what its supposed to feel like"

Sashi gave him a fake glower at his words before joining him in a laugh. Suddenly, she then pulled herself forward and gently scoped up her new boyfriend in her hand and him close to her face. Penn was tad confused by her actions, but then he got good idea as to what she had in mind for him with a seductive look in her eye.

"Uh Sash, what you up to?" he questioned hesitantly, despite already knowing

"I just wanna try something" was all she said in a tone that made Penn melt on the inside

The next thing the part-time hero knew, his new girlfriend leaned her head down to the shrunken teen and gently pressed her lips against his entire face. Despite it feeling strange and awkward, there was a part of Penn that enjoyed the kiss. The part-time hero did his best to kiss Sashi back, bu really it was him touching his small lips against her lower lip, but he could feel a rush of blood to his head-and to other parts as well. He even thought that he would be here kissing Sashi Koybashi, and yet, here he was, locking lips with his crush-sort of.

After a few more seconds of their kiss, Sashi pulled back, giving Penn a chance to breath.

"Well, that happened" he said "That was kinda hot. A bit awkward, but hot"

"Knew you'd like it" she said with a smug smirk

"Hey Sash, could you put me down like on your desk or something?" her new boyfriend asked "I don't wanna sound like a perv, but when you put me on the bed. I don't wanna be a perv or anything, but I was trying not look up your skirt"

"And who says I don't want you to do that?" the violent teen commented with a voice laced with lust

"Come again?" Penn squeaked

"Kissing you like this wasn't the only thing I had in mind for you" she continued "I had...other ideas, for you at this height"

Normally, when someone said something like that, their respective partner would be rightfully freaked out by this. But Penn Zero was not like most people, and truth be told, he was more then game for whatever Sashi's dirty mind could think up.

"I always knew you were kinda kinky" he answered with a chuckle "But if we're gonna do this; then we gotta do it as how I envisioned it"

"How _you_ envisioned it?" his giant lover inquired in confusion

"Your not the only one here with certain fantasies, Sash" Penn pointed out "now I'm gonna need a knight's helmet, a crotch-less scuba-suit and a hang gilder-cause I wanna fly in there with style!"

"I'll look through my old doll collection to see what I've got" Sashi replied before she got up, ecited by what they were about to do

After Sashi found the list of items Penn requested, they did it.

Like a lot.


End file.
